To Change a Life Is No Small Feat
by Kaichai
Summary: AU-Kagome, a grade twelve, seventeen year old. She has always hated the girls who play the 'damsel in distress', thus she has immersed herself in the arts of fighting. She meets new friends and is about to change lives.


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* * *

****To Change a Life Is No Small Feat  
****- Chapter One - Intense Meetings -**

Kagome was moving again, and this time is was to a new part of the world, but one of her heritage. She folded up all of her jeans and sighed. Yes, this was not all that different. Her mother was going to renovate a shrine in Japan therefore it was time to move. Again. She had been fortunate in their past moves, they were only in Europe and North America and both of those places held fencing and archery tournaments. Twisting her hair behind her ear she sighed again, no, this time they were moving to a remote part of Japan where there would be very few fencing tournaments. All around her room there were reminders of this new change, books on the history of Japan, books on the language, books on the myths and beliefs, boxes half-way filled and bare walls. She grabbed a hairclip to pull her long, wavy hair back out of her face. It's time to concentrate.

* * *

She looked around at her vacant room; she was finally done. It took her a little under three hours, but she was finished, completely and utterly. There were seven boxes in all, and they all had her name written on it. Her bed was ready to be packed up the next day for the plane and her closet was empty albeit the duffle bag that held her clothing for the trip. She was transferring schools to a private school in the area and they actually wore uniforms. Japan is definitely going to be different than Europe, at least here they all had the same sort of alphabet, but there... wow… it's very different. She sighed and moved over to her window looking out over the churchyard, she was going to miss France dearly. Here, she had learned archery from a good friend and that was one of her favourite pastimes now. Though, it would always fall behind swordplay. Nothing ever could beat the rush that you received when you are fighting for your life on the edge of a blade that comes within inches of your throat. In fact, one of her good friends in Italy made her a rapier from broken fencing weapons. It took over two months of gathering the broken foils, sabres, and epée's at her salle but it was worth it. It is a full out battle-worthy blade, the tang is the full width of the blade and the grip is perfect for her specialized moves. It isn't fully sharpened, but Houjo knew how much she loved real weapons and gave her a sharpening stone to use if she felt the need. 

She looked out the window again and watched her little brother Souta walk through the trees. France was always so beautiful, especially when you saw the beaches. As she gazed out over the sparsely forested fields she considered going down to the beach one last time. 'Yes, perhaps one last time before we're off to a new country.' She thought.

"Mom! Jiji-chan! I'm heading to the beach and I may bring Souta with me, okay?" she called out as she gathered up her beach bag filling it with her bikini, towel, sun block, sunglasses and soap.

"Have fun, dear!" her mother replied with a kiss whilst her teenaged daughter ran out the door.

Out in the foreyard Kagome skipped barefooted in the grass looking for Souta. 'He has to be around her somewhere… I just know it.' She yelled for him, "Souta! Souta! Where are you? I'm going to the beach one last time before we leave for Japan! Would you like to come with me? Souta!" She watched the area near her to see if there was any movement, but she had yet to see her brother. Knowing Souta, he was probably gathering some moles or something similar… With that thought she laughed to herself. Her brother was so much like their mother; always caring for hurt people and creatures. Nothing ever fazed him, and everything had a solution. Kagome loved his optimistic and compassionate personality and she knew that he would mature into a wonderful man. It was such a shame that he thrived in irking her completely. She knew that it had something to do with the 'Little Brother's Code of Honour', oh yes, there was a mini society that kept all the younger siblings of the world working at bringing the elder ones into the wonderful land of complete annoyance. The sparsely laid trees were of the quiet sort; light, white bark and soft, willowy leaves. They populated her quaint trail to the beach. Everywhere she looked beauty was to be found, to her left were the old vineyards (still in use!), to her right she could see the old rose gardens and in front of her the small, well-worn trail that led to a bit of beach known as '_Mer Paisible_'.

Twenty minutes later, she arrived at the beach. It was small, and out of the way, but it had a great area for snorkelling. Whilst setting down her beach bag, she noticed that the sun was getting low on the horizon. She knew that she only had about two hours of sunlight left, so she was going to use it to the best of her abilities. As she lathered on her sun screen thoughts of the tropical fish which she wanted to see swam through her mind. Parrot fish, trigger fish, some eels, crabs and perhaps even a dolphin. Finished, she grabbed her snorkel gear and prepared for her escapade. Once she placed her fins on her small feet she jumped into the crystal blue waters and glided towards the reef. Coral started coming up to her and she marvelled at its dazzling colours. There were the prettiest blues, greens, pinks, purples, and reds. Even though the water was getting deeper she found herself having to suck in her stomach to avoid touching the coral. The surface water was getting to be so only a foot and a half was unoccupied by coral. The fish that she saw were amazing, such splendid and brilliant colours and shapes. They scattered as she skirted by them, and a few of them followed her. Trigger fish could be so beautiful, she remembered the Humuhumunumunumuapua'a that were plentiful in Hawai'i. Those fish were vibrant. As she swam, she was searching the salty water for her friends, but she had yet to see them. There were only some parrot fish; one was that huge blue one that had taken a liking to her. Every once in a while she noticed the tail of an eel, but that didn't bother her, eels were not a problem, nor were sharks for that matter. Barracudas were the ones to worry about.

That's when she saw the undercurrent's lane. She had finally arrived at her destination. Taking a deep breath she dove beneath the water's surface and went into its depths searching for her companions. Sometimes, if she was extremely fortunate that day, she could pet the local dolphin pod. Although, usually it was only her green mates, the sea turtles. In Hawai'i they were very fond of them, calling them honus and drawing up many pictures of their travels. Sure enough, there they were, lazily swimming through some coral tunnels. Their calm demeanour set her soul at peace, but today she had to bid them farewell. It was time to break the rules and touch them. Cautiously, she moved next to them and reached out. They came to her and nibbled at her hand. The bravest of them came and studied her hair; she tried to hold in a laugh at his antics. She moved closer to him and kissed his forehead, letting them know in her own way that she would not be able to see them again. Her breath ran out and she sped to the surface and broke through, taking a huge amount of oxygen into her lungs. For the next hour or so, she spent her time watching the turtles and other ocean life, but too soon 'twas time to leave. Sadly, she swam back to the beach with one thought in her mind…. Life was good.

* * *

The plane trip wasn't so bad; long, yes, but not in any way bad. She had spent the whole time sitting next to her little brother and while he was nice, he _was_ her brother after all, and siblings loved to pull pranks on one another. The plane was their war zone (within limits of course) and they had some great fun. Peanuts could be found in very inconspicuous places within the surrounding seats and the unfortunate senior woman that was seated in front of the two devils was sure to find some interesting objects in her hair the next time she checked her appearance in a mirror. Two extremely content siblings walked out of the plane in an air of supremacy, they held their heads up high and smirked to their hearts delight. Everything so far was going wonderfully. Their mother and grandfather were moving along up ahead of them heading towards the baggage claim and out of the noisy terminal. 

Baggage claim proved to be immensely more populated and getting through the crowd was proving to be more difficult than they had previously imagined. Everywhere she looked she could see someone who was calling out things in Japanese; luckily for her she understood it. Grandfather's lessons on history and ancestry were proving themselves to be blessings. From the moment she had entered the world of the living her grandfather only allowed her to address him in Japanese, thus she knew it just as well as her other languages. As they tried to pry themselves out of this chaos known as an airport Kagome looked around and pointed out a few things to Souta.

"Souta! Look at that! Isn't that just beautiful?"

Souta looked at his sister as though she had horns popping out of her forehead, "Um, sis? It's just a tree."

"Oui, but it's a _Japanese Maple_! In Japan!" she exclaimed joyfully.

"You've seen those in America too, you know…" he decided that his sister must have found some source of sugar on the plane and he knew all too well that she would be flitting around the area until she knocked herself out.

"C'est impressionnant ! Le Japon est meilleur que j'ai imaginé ! Les arbres. l'OH, les arbres ! Je ne peux pas attendre pour voir notre nouvelle maison!..." and she babbled on unceasingly in French for the next hour. Souta noted that it was mainly about the 'amazing Japanese trees'. Whilst picking up their suitcases she was jumping around their luggage cart, scaring away the tourists nearby. Souta found this quite entertaining and decided to join in on the fun, after all, what's the fun in having a hyper elder sister if you couldn't use it to your own advantage. Eventually, though, even _he_ became tired from his sister's antics and ended up asleep on her shoulder in a highly uncomfortable position that would indeed give him a wonderful neck ache when he awoke. The drive itself was around two hours long from the Tokyo Airport. Shimizu was a smaller town and their 'new' shrine was in the far outskirts surrounded by a nice sized forest. Nearby there was a private school which most people sent their children to. Kagome was to attend their secondary school while Souta would be in his last year of primary. Kagome looked to her brother resting against her and grinned maliciously, she would have some fun when they arrived at their new house…

* * *

Unloading boxes was always the worst part of moving. Other than packing, that is. She looked at all of them, there were loads and loads, how on earth was she supposed to get them all inside this old shrine by herself? Lugging these boxes into her new home was starting to hurt her back and legs which surprised her greatly. She was after all a champion fighter in many weapon classes and was strong for her size. Once she tried lifting the couch out of the truck, she decided that it was time for a break, grabbed some cliff bars and quickly walked out the door straight into the forest. Her mother, grandfather and brother had all left for downtown Shimizu to pick up food and other living necessities; they had left her at home to unpack due to the fact that she had bragged about being able to do so all alone. As she walked deeper into these woods she realized that this would be a wonderful training ground for her to work out, 'twould be much different from the meadows of France and the hills of Canada. (As well as the many other odd places she had lived.) She opened up one of her cliff bars, the peanut butter one, and started jogging looking for some water source.

* * *

He looked down at the small river that ran beneath his tree; it was something that had always calmed him throughout his life. Every time he had a fight with his brother or was put down by his fellow 'people' he came to this spot before things went out of hand. The Goshinboku was his tree and no one else knew about it as it had long been forgotten by the human populace. His gaze drifted away from the peaceful river and up to the leafy sky above him. _'Why is it that no matter where I wish to be I always find myself here? I wonder what happened here that makes me so drawn to this area. It's here that I find serenity, here that I find cheer and here that I find my will to drive on...' _With that last thought he scoffed, as if there would ever be a time that he lost his will. He was one of the most stubborn people alive and that was undoubtedly never to change. 

Suddenly he heard footsteps of a jogging person. There was also the smell of food in there air… was it… peanut butter? And a light panting could be heard, his ears quirked towards the sounds, who could this be?

He leapt up a few more branches so he wouldn't be seen by this newcomer. As she came into view he immediately regretted staying.

* * *

"Aha! Water! I knew that I would find you, oh mighty, mighty foe." She grinned at the flowing water and walked up to the large tree near the river's bank. "Thou mayeth always run from me, but thy's streams shall never escape though try ye by thine's strongest will!" And with that interesting proclamation she began laughing with an insane glint in her eye. '_Man… the jet lag must be getting to me.. Surely I need to drink.'_ Continuing her large giggle fit, she skipped beneath the large tree and knelt to drink. Her hands cupped held the perfect amount of water and she drank until she felt her stomach full so she could see if she was as hungry as she felt. It was a beautiful day she decided as the gathered her bearings and searched her surroundings. Trees were as far as her eyes could see, they were very tall and intimidating for those who feared being alone. She was not one of those people, this was a perfect spot for her therefore she marked this in her mind so she would not forget about this piece of paradise. 

Kagome looked up to see where the sun was but due to the vast amount of leaves this seemingly ancient tree possessed, she could not see it directly. Shrugging it off she pulled another cliff bar out of her pocket which just happened to be peanut butter and chocolate. As she took a bite she released a small laugh and grinned to the world around her. Everything just felt so right, this area was so comforting she couldn't help but think that there was a special aura that dwelt here. She sighed and rolled onto her side whilst curling up; she was tired a little nap wouldn't hurt.

* * *

He choked on his tongue, it was her. How? Why? When? She was back. How could _she_ come to him now after all that she'd done to him? He had even left Tokyo to get away from that insane woman. It was definitely madness. _She_ was now living in his neighbourhood and from the smell of her she lived at that old, lifeless shrine. That stupid miko… he would get rid of her once and for all. '_But, you still love her, don't you? You know you do… baka… You love her.' _He shook his head and relayed his thoughts to the girl below; she did look very much like Kikyou… 

Her hair was the same ebony mass that cascaded down her ivory shoulders, her skin the same porcelain that just called for him to touch it… why in the world did she chase after him? His anger was seeping in quickly and the urge to scream was proudly bursting through his mind. He could not take it any more. So he jumped. He landed right in front of the slumbering girl and was about to yell until his voice became nothing but a wisp of air, that is, until he realized that she was dead to the world. Twitching his ears he looked her over thoroughly. This was Kikyou, it had to be. She looked just like her, but something was off. What was it? He leaned in closer and examined her face; his breath came down on her nose in warm blasts. Suddenly, midnight blue eyes were staring down his gold ones.

* * *

"You… you… you! You freak! Get away from me!" Kagome leapt up and went into her en guarde position. "Get away from me or you'll regret it." 

The young man in front of her was slightly taken aback. His amber eyes glinted in anger and his mouth formed into a snarl which showed off his fangs nicely. "What the heck are you talkin' about Kikyou? Why didja follow me? You're one freaky stalker, I'll tell you that. Blasted… argh! You dirty, little wench-"

"Wench? WENCH? Oh mister, you're dead meat. I've warned you, first you invade my personal space as though you're about to kiss me and then, _then_ you call me a wench? I think not… no one gets away with insulting me." She checked him over taking in his body movements and his hold. No one insulted her without due payment and this boy was about to meet his dark angel.

"Yeah, Kikyou, I'd've thought that you would've known better than to cross me. Remember last time?"

"Jeeze! Who is Kikyou? I'm not her."

"Sure you aren't, Kikyou. You're just some random whore who just _happens_ to look like a doppelganger." The strange young man rolled his eyes and took a step forward. His first mistake: underestimating his opponent.

Somehow within milliseconds he realized that something was out of sorts, but it was still too late. One hand quickly came and crushed his nose whilst her knee jammed itself into his crotch. The hanyou fell onto the ground and groaned, he had not expected her to act in such a way. As for Kagome, she decided that it was time to finish unpacking, her back didn't really hurt much any more and she would have plenty of time to explore the area after she came to an agreement with the new auras here. That couch was calling her; she could almost hear it from this river.

* * *

**Other Languages-**

_Mer Paisible _- Peaceful Sea  
_"C'est impressionnant ! Le Japon est meilleur que j'ai imaginé ! Les arbres. l'OH, les arbres ! Je ne peux pas attendre pour voir notre nouvelle maison!..."_- This is awesome! Japan is better than I imagined! The trees.. oh, the trees! I can't wait to see our new home!...

**A/N-** Hello! I really hope that this isn't too bad... I know that they seem to be a bit out of character... but don't fret! They are a bit different than their real characters in the manga/anime and I am still learning how to work with them. This is definitely going to be a romance story, but it will take a while to get to that point. I'm still unsure of who Kagome will be with, though... which would you prefer: Inu Yasha or Sesshou-maru? It's a vote, but if my muses call upon the under-dog of the race, please don't be upset with me. I can't fight my muses, but I do work them to the point of exhaustion. .

Now, as for my updates... I will update this, I just need to write the next chapter. .; And I should let you know, I'm a busy person with a busy schedule and not only am I a writer, but I am also an artist, a singer, an actress, a student, a musician and mainly a girl whose brain wanders off into lands far, far away. It takes me a while to concentrate enough to get to my next inspiration. . You'll get to know more about my two muses in the future.. right now those boys are busy thinking about my dragon picture for a friend. I will update this as soon as possible! Have a wonderful week!

-Kaichai .


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